MTA

How can the MTA improve service to its customers? If I would ask this question to any New Yorker, we would have a very long conversation. I will the MTA, which run the subways in New York, credit for being able to transport millions of people every day. However, there are so much that can be improved.

This morning, I experienced some extremely frustrating issues in the subway. There were no Manhattan bound trains this morning from my neighborhood. The staff did not explain the reason. I had to travel to Coney Island, which is the opposite direction of Manhattan.

I already knew that I would be late for work but I was hoping to save some time if the train went express over another line. The N train usually runs express over the D line when there are no Manhattan bound trains.

This did not happen. The train first indicated that it would run over the D line as a local train. It would take a very long time to get to Manhattan this way. However, the train switched to run normally over the N line again meaning I would not have had to gone to Coney Island in the first place.

The train was running fairly smoothly for a few stations but suddenly stopped because of signal issues. People were getting pretty upset at this time, including me. The problem is that no one can do anything about it. Customer service is something that the MTA would not know anything about.

Actually, I think this problem illustrates pretty accurately why monopolies are inefficient. Obviously, it would be very difficult to have more than one or two companies operating in the subway system. However, without alternatives, people will get stuck, lose valuable time and money, and be surrounded by inefficiencies.

In addition, monopolies do not have much incentive to improve or to find innovative solutions. The MTA ignore training its employees, looking for inefficiencies, and providing customer service. I belong to the few who think MTA’s prices are decent. However, the company keeps increasing prices while decreasing services and this is not good.

One major problem with the MTA is its rude, untrained, and uneducated workers. Employees have no motivation to do a good job. Maintenance workers are lazy and it is not uncommon to see ten workers sitting down while one man does the job.

The staff and others who provide assistance to people who need to buy a new card or ask for directions are also exceedingly unprofessional. They do not smile, do not provide clear instruction, nor do they work efficiently. It makes me upset to think about how much money is lost because of their lack of effort.